Jinger Vuolo is spilling the tea on just how much control Jim Bob Duggar had over her courtship process.
According to her new memoir Becoming Free Indeed, Vuolo recounts her father turning down over 25 potential suitors and almost denying her husband Jeremy Vuolo.
The Duggar’s strict courtship rules
Everyone knows the 19 Kids and Counting stars have a different approach to ‘dating,’ but no one really knew to what extent until Jinger Vuolo decided to write a tell-all.
Fans are learning a lot from reading Becoming Free Indeed, including the intense courtship process that was full manipulated by patriarch Jim Bob Duggar.
The Duggar’s believe that traditional dating is sinful, and leads to a life of depression. Jim Bob once explained why he has so much control:
Courtship is really waiting for the one God has for you and praying through the whole process. It’s really examining the person and considering, ‘Would this be the guy I want to be the father of my kids?’
Other rules of their courtship process include no hand holding until engaged, no kissing until marriage, and chaperones for every “date.”
Jim Bob denies 26 suitors for Jinger
Jim Bob Duggar turned away over 25 potential suitors interested in his daughter.
Jinger recalls in her memoir:
I hadn’t shared more than a passing hello with any of them. I’m guessing a few confused me with one of my sisters. Several had seen the show and decided they wanted to court a Duggar girl. A similar number of guys were interested in each of my sisters.
The 50 page questionnaire
Once thought to be Duggar lore, the thorough 50 page questionnaire for potential suitors is very real.
Sister Jessa Duggar’s husband Ben Seewald explained that even though he had already ‘passed inspection,’ he still had to participate in the questionnaire, which seems to be focused mostly on Christianity.
‘The major question, where I spent most of my time was ”tell me about how you became a Christian, how you came to the Lord’
It’s no surprise then that Jinger’s love, Jeremy Vuolo, would also be placed under this rigorous scrutiny, confessing:
The questionnaire asks some pretty intensely personal questions. … You have to know who you are.
Skeptical of Jeremy Vuolo
Courting Jinger wasn’t as simple as Jeremy Vuolo filling out the questionnaire and passing… Jim Bob Duggar was skeptical of the former soccer player from the beginning because the match was technically a ‘set up’ by Jessa and Ben Seewald.
Jinger spills in her memoir that Vuolo was finally allowed to court Jinger “after five months of almost weekly conversations with my dad.”
Despite the rough start, Vuolo reveals that from the moment the pair started taking “there was an expectation of marriage.”
Despite all of Jim Bob’s control, the marriage went on as planned and the Vuolo’s have been ‘Becoming Free‘ since moving out on their own.
They now live in ‘sinful’ Los Angeles and defy almost all modesty standards. A happy ending after all!
Ashley Marie is a writer for Starcasm and the personality behind Twitter’s @RealityByAshley. You can contact Ashley via Twitter or email at realitybyashley(at)gmail.com
